Microsoft beats estimates as most divisions see growth

Microsoft just posted revenue of $17.41 billion for the quarter ended March 30, up 6 percent. Earnings per share were 60 cents, down slightly from the same quarter last year but still enough to beat the consensus of Wall Street analysts.

Four of the company’s five divisions posted increases in revenue. Only the Entertainment & Devices Division, home to the Xbox 360 console, was down for the quarter. Microsoft blamed the 16 percent revenue drop on a weak console market.

In a statement included with the earnings results, CEO Steve Ballmer pointed ahead to upcoming product releases, including the next versions of Windows and Office.

“We’re driving toward exciting launches across the entire company, while delivering strong financial results,” Ballmer said. “With the upcoming release of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets, the next version of Office, and a wide array of products and services for the enterprise and consumers, we will be delivering exceptional value to all our customers in the year ahead.”

In the Windows division, which has been battered by a rough market and competition from the iPad, revenue rose 4 percent to $4.62 billion. The company says it has continued to see strong adoption of Windows 7, noting that the operating system is now on 40 percent of enterprise desktops worldwide.

In the Online Services Division, home to the Bing search engine, revenue rose 6 percent to $707 million, and the division’s loss shrank to $479 million, down from a loss of $776 million in the same quarter a year ago.

The big gainer for the quarter was the Server & Tools Division, which saw its revenue rise 14 percent, to $4.57 billion, with operating profits of $1.7 billion.

Revenue in the Microsoft Business Division, home to Office and related products, rose 9 percent to $5.81 billion, with operating profits of $3.77 billion, making it the largest Microsoft division.

Analysts polled in advance by Thomson FInancial expected overall revenue from Microsoft of $17.2 billion and earnings per share of 57 cents.

Microsoft also slightly reduced its projections for operating expenses for the current fiscal year, saying they will be between $28.3 billion and $28.7 billion. The fiscal year ends June 30.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the company said expenses are projected to be $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion, an increase of roughly 6 percent.

It’s better than some had feared. But 6% growth? Seriously? You can’t keep growing earnings at 12% forever if revenue is only growing at half that. MS’s entire senior team seems to be in denial about the company’s long term future. Apple is now a much larger company yet still growing at between 30 and 50%. Google is growing at 20%+. But MS seems resigned to a future of endlessly slowing growth and eventual decline.

To get growth back to even 10%, they need billions of new revenue every year. Where’s that going to come from? Not Windows, which is dependent on the PC market that is being disrupted by tablets and smartphones. Not Office, for the same reason. Not Entertainment, as this quarter’s result made clear. And not search, which can’t even grow at the market despite being the smaller underdog. And instead of doing something transformational that might result in faster top line growth overall, Ballmer spends $8b buying serially unprofitable Skype. Fail.

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wow they sure sit on a pile of cash at Redmond.

Let’s not forget Microsoft also owns Skype and that’s going to be used a lot on Windows Phones in the future.